Stiffness and Damping Properties of a Swing Clamp: Model and Experiment

The dynamics of a workpiece, and hence its behaviour in a machining process, is significantly influenced by the fixture system. In such assembled systems, contacts between the parts have great impact on the vibration characteristics of the complete structure. Prediction of the dynamic behaviour of a workpiece-fixture-system can help to avoid undesirable results like poor workpiece surface quality and thus a reduction of rejects can be achieved. This paper introduces experimental studies and a model for describing the tangential stiffness and damping properties of a swing clamp. A modification of an existing material model was used to represent the transfer function, in terms of force and relative displacement, between the contact surfaces. An experimental setup for assessing the model parameters was established. An approach for parameter extraction is also provided. The proposed model can be adapted for other clamping mechanisms.